The present invention relates generally to security products for portable devices, and more specifically it relates to an adapter for retrofitting a valuable portable device with a security slot.
Portable devices, such as laptop computers, personal organizers and the like, are frequently the subject of theft. Consequently, Kensington.RTM. Microware Limited developed and promulgated a security slot standard for use with its MICROSAVER.RTM. security lock. U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,752, U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,685, U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,989, U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,878, U.S. Pat. No. D347,987 and U.S. Pat. No. D346,733, each hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes, define various locking devices for interfacing to security slots that may be incorporated into the walls of portable devices, for example, laptop computers. The security locks have proven to be an effective deterrent to theft of the portable devices. Unfortunately, the security locks may not be used with devices that do not have a security slot. The KENSINGTON.RTM. standard slot is increasingly being incorporated into more and more portable devices.
Not every portable device is manufactured with a necessary security slot. As a consequence, it is desirable to develop a retrofit security slot adapter that may be used with a portable device to enable the security locks to secure the portable device. It is important that such retrofit adapters be attachable with minimal equipment and potential damage to the portable device. Once attached, the retrofit adapter must resist efforts to shear, pull, pry or otherwise remove the adapter from the portable device. In addition, the retrofit adapter should be made of a material sufficiently strong to retain the security lock within the security slot.
To satisfy these requirements, some early versions of adapters were made of metal adhered directly to the wall of a portable device. While being sufficiently strong, such adapters were too rigid. As a consequence, metal adapters must either be relatively large to provide enough surface area to adequately adhere to a portable device, or were prone to being sheared or pried from the wall of the portable device. As portable devices are reduced in size, it becomes increasingly impractical to use large metal adapters. In addition, metal adapters may be relatively more expensive to manufacture than adapters made from other material.
An improvement to metal-only adapters incorporates a flexible elastomeric spacer between the metal adapter and the electronic device. Two layers of adhesive, one between the adapter and the spacer, and one between the spacer and the electronic device provide improved flexibility and resistance to removal over the metal-only adapter.